FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – As the team took the field for the fifth practice of AT&T Atlanta Falcons Training Camp on Saturday, there were three players not among them.
Defensive end Takk McKinley was excused by the team for personal reasons, but receiver Calvin Ridley and linebacker Duke Riley joined the Falcons on the field after a bit of time, and neither player donned shoulder pads or a helmet.
RELATED CONTENT
Ridley suffered what coach Dan Quinn called Thursday a "tight hamstring." The second-year receiver came up grabbing his hamstring after running a curl route during an early period on Thursday, the final practice of the Falcons' first block of training camp. Quinn said he expected Ridley would be ready to go for the second block of camp, but the team is instead holding him out until he's had more time to heal.
"He's got a sore hamstring, and we're going to make sure he's full speed to go," Quinn said. "At his position, the corners, the wide receivers, those guys have got to be able to explode … It's day-to-day, but I'd say it's not a long-term thing. If it has to be three or four or five days, it will."
The injury to Riley is one that had not gone previously noticed. As they are with Ridley, the Falcons are being cautious with their third-year linebacker.
"He'll probably be in the same space with Cal(vin)," Quinn said. "It's his groin and hip flexor in the same moment, where turning and exploding we didn't want him to put any aggravation on that. He worked really hard through the offseason. We talk about Keke (Keanu Neal) and Rico (Ricardo Allen) and the work they did in the offseason, but Duke stayed here and worked a lot too."
The Falcons will hold their sixth practice of training camp on Sunday, and the team will hold one half of an intra-squad scrimmage.
